A Look at Work Incentives for People on Disability

There is an oft-made argument this election that many people receiving disability benefits would rather sit at home and collect a monthly benefits check than go work. This could not be farther from the truth, as the vast majority of people on disability would much rather be healthy and working than collecting a Social Security disability check.

There are a few reasons we know this to be true. One is that when Congress set up the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) systems, they set the monthly benefits award at an amount lower than what they consider substantial gainful activity. In fact, they wanted the maximum benefits award to be around 80 percent lower than what someone could make if they were working. The reason for this is very clear in that they do not want any extra incentives to sit at home and collect an SSDI benefits check instead of working.

If someone was able to work, they could easily earn a lot more money they would receive from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), so this is an incentive to work. Another reason we know the vast majority of those on disability benefits are genuinely disabled, is because it is very difficult to obtain disability in the first place. For this reason, if you are having trouble obtaining disability benefits, you should contact an experienced Boston disability benefits lawyer as soon as possible in order to greatly increase your chance of obtaining a disability award.

One of the problems, however, is that when people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits and start to get better from treatment, is that even if they want to go back to work, they may be scared. The reason for this is because they may feel like they are healthy enough to return to work, but are not sure. The fear is that if they return to work, they will lose their disability benefits, and if they can’t keep working because they are not as healthy as they thought, they will have a real problem. The solution to this for many may be to stay on disability even though they would rather be working.

A recent news article from Forbes takes a look at this issue and how there are very little incentives for people on disability to return to work. The problem is compounded by the fact that that number of people on disability rolls is increasing each year, and there is constantly not enough money in the budget to fund the program. In addition to the problems with the disability fund, the author of this article is also concerned about how the economy will be affected by having so many people not in the workforce. While this concern may be a bit of an exaggeration, it is true that there are not many options for those on disability who want to to back into the workforce. One solution discussed is to incentivize employers to provide private disability insurance to their workforce.

If you or a loved one is seeking Social Security Disability Insurance in Boston, call for a free and confidential appointment at 1-888-367-2900.